When the Kansas City Chiefs signed free agent safety Tyrann Mathieu and the Houston Texans responded with signing Tashaun Gipson, the comparisons began.
Even into training camp, the comparisons are still being asked about as to what type of safety Mathieu was compared to what Gipson brings from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Mathieu is more finesse,” safety Justin Reid told reporters Saturday at Houston Methodist Training Center. “Me and Gip are more similar body types, we’re both bigger guys, we both stack up well against tight ends.”
Reid stands at 6-1, 205 pounds and Gipson is 5-11, 212 pounds. Mathieu was 5-9, 185 pounds, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have utility in the defensive backfield.
“Tyrann also had the ability to play the nickel, so we used to send him on a lot of blitzes,” Reid explained.
Mathieu produced 3.0 sacks for the Texans in 2018, the fifth-most on the team and the most for any member of the secondary.
However, Houston struggled defending tight ends, giving up 90 catches, the third-most in the NFL, for 1,013 yards (eighth most) and eight touchdowns (fifth most). Given the Texans are in a division where Eric Ebron caught 13 touchdowns for the Indianapolis Colts, the Texans had to make changes to upgrade their defense of tight ends.
“You’d see we used to send him on a lot of rushes, he even played our dime position, whereas me and Gip are more interchangeable safeties,” said Reid. “We’re almost a bit of the same person in a way.”
